Noctua Announces Some New Fans - During a Brownout?

Noctua, well-known Austrian maker of high-performance fans and CPU coolers, announced two new fan product lines today – and there’s something very different about them.

Do not adjust your monitor. These fans are in full color (or lack thereof)

Of some interest here is the “redux” line. True to its name, “redux” is a reissue of some of Noctua’s best-know models but with a very different look. Gone is the trademark brown and tan! Noctua also plans on selling these for “3/4 the price” of the standard models.

According to Noctua’s official statement, “the introduction of the two new product lines allows us to respond to the recurring demands for Noctua fans in different colors." So the voices have been heard. (While I personally don’t mind the old color scheme there are certainly people who do!)

The “redux” lineup will include PWM and 3-pin versions of the existing NF-P14, NF-S12B, NF-B9 and NF-R8, in a gray/darker gray color scheme.

So what of this second new product line? That would be the “industrialPPC” fan lineup with high speed offerings for use in “challenging environments” – and Noctua makes mention of “PC enthusiasts striving for extreme performance”. Sounds like these might warrant some overclocking trials...

The industrialPPC lineup consists of “ruggedized” 2000 and 3000rpm versions of the NF-F12 and NF-A14 fans, and they feature an all-black color scheme.

Competition is a good thing, and it’s nice to see Noctua diversify their offerings and offer some lower pricing (with the redux line) in this market, though their fans will still demand a premium price.

I think Noctua make decent fans with good warranties, but the silly marketing and fanboys make me look elsewhere. If they lower prices on the redux-line it would probably only make them very expensive opposed to ridiculous expensive.